Samsung unveils the Samsung Z, its first attempt at building an Android rival

Samsung is now living the dream: It’s built a smartphone that it can lard up with as much bloatware as it likes and there’s nothing Google can do about it. Samsung on Monday took the wraps off the Samsung Z, its first-ever smartphone that runs on its own native Tizen operating system. The new device features a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED display, a 2.3GHz quad-core processor, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera, a fingerprint scanner, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a 2600mAh battery and Tizen 2.2.1.

Samsung first started using Tizen this year with its Gear 2 smartwatch and it’s an operating system that the company has designed to lessen its dependence on Android and give it control of its own mobile ecosystem. Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lines of phones will continue using Android as their platforms for the foreseeable future but the company doesn’t see any harm in popping out a few Tizen phones each year to see if there’s any demand for them.

Samsung will release the Samsung Z in Russia sometime in the third quarter this year and will gradually expand its availability in other markets later. No pricing information for the device has yet been announced, but we imagine Samsung will sell it for less than it sells the Galaxy S5 and the Galaxy Note 3.